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Grum
Grum is a hat. One of the eight working for the IBS in fact. History Early Life Grum was born in the year 688 IC. Throughout his childhood, Grum always wore his hat, no matter how oversized it was or how hard the other kids tried to steal it. On his 5th birthday, when he was old enough to work, he was given the name Grum and sent to work at a salt mine. Grum first picked up magic at the salt mine; making his pack seem full of salt without having to struggle with the weight of it. Soon enough other kids were asking him to help them in the same way, desperate for any kind of interaction with them beyond having his food stolen, he agreed to help them out. After a few years of eating normally and working at the salt mine, Grum had grown into a strong young man with some skill in magic. Knowing this, him and two close friends Twik and Lerm and founded a short lived gang called "The Angels of Deaths". Or as it was more commonly known from their mindless vandalism and small amount of merch, "The Angles of Death". To start with they mostly did low level crimes, nothing big enough to get chased down by the local militia, who were were either trying to tackle local crime families or were owned by them. Eventually, the larger crimes began to become too lucrative to ignore and with increasing financial hardship the angles began to take more risks with bigger jobs. It was during this period that he learnt how to think as criminals and thieves do. It was during this time that Billy Joel, a famous bard, took pity on Grum and taught him how to read and write, giving him the academic and emotional support that Glassfate failed to provide. This gave Grum a love of literature and music. Grum often invited Billy Joel over for food in exchange for these lessons. Grum would cook the best meals he could with the meagre ingredients he had. One of the Angles' final jobs, was breaking "Diovany", who was a prominent member of the "Jostah" crime family, out of prison. They bribed some guards and put Grum who was disguised as Diovany in the cell to avoid arousing suspicion till he had escaped. In the morning, Grum feigned ignorance of the breakout, claiming he'd been knocked out and kidnapped. He thought he would go free. Unfortunately for him, war had broken out. Grum was to be drafted. Military Service and Desertion Grum was drafted into the army as an front line solider in the Khan's IV Infantry Company due to his decent build from working in the mine. He was given an axe, which he affectionately named "Twilyte" and was sent into the front lines in the Khan's conquest with very little training. They won a few battles initially, but Grum's company began to slowly dwindled in numbers, either to desertion or to death. Grum only surviving due to his experience with illusion magic, either making himself appear dead or scaring people off with the sound of a larger force approaching. He learnt how to think about perspective and had worked out how to make things appear much larger than they appeared etc, tricking people into thinking armies were just on the horizon with only small illusions. Grum eventually deserted, writing to both the Xelaphos and enemy commanders, "I am deserting the army, thank you for feeding me". At the time he didn't understand the meaning of the word "Desertion", assuming it was just a fancy Imperial way of saying "quitting", and so did not know the consequences. He assumed people at Xelaphos would treat him badly if they knew he quit from the army so he headed North towards the Imperial Capital to finish studying magic. Grum's Bounty and the IBS Just mere days after Grum had turned 18, he was attacked by a young and inexperienced bounty hunter, who was going after Grum thinking he would be an easy mark. When Grum attacked, he just about managed to overpower the hunter, leaving him alive but injured. After a rather tame interrogation, Grum was surprised to hear that both armies had put a bounty on him totalling around 30 gold pieces. From this point Grum was wary when travelling on main roads, through his time as a criminal he could work out when he was being followed by an interested party. Grum would setup various traps, being careful to just incapacitate any hunters following him, often making use of his illusion magic, all the while heading towards the Capital. Grum would often create lich or demon illusions, scaring off the less committed hunters, or would simply make a very deep pit seem like a rather normal part of the dirt track. As more and more low-level hunters turned up empty handed and injured, the IBS itself increased the bounty to 200 gold. Attracting more experienced hunters, who usually were incapacitated too. By this point, Grum was becoming a bit infamous amongst IBS members, there were rumours that he was actually a lich, or a ghost back from the dead to terrorise the IBS for dealing in blood money. At this point, money Jim, the most senior public member of the IBS, increased the bounty to 2000 gold, just to get rid of the thorn at his side. This attracted a lot of attention, attention that Grum wasn’t ready for. Whereas before he could still enter most small towns as long as he remembered to disguise himself. His face, and more importantly his hat were on wanted posters plastered in almost every inn on Lûeth. Mitchson Grum entered the small town of Amberfield posing as a young knight from the southern provinces on his way to the capital for a tourney, however, the town was crawling with hunters and merchants from the capital who had followed the growing crowd, so he had to be very careful who he spoke to. He asked around and got directions to the cheapest inn, where a few hunters were waiting outside for him, after some intense questioning from them, they let him go. Grum’s plan was to stay at the inn for few weeks, or certainly long enough for hunters to think he’d already made it to the capital. By the fifth day, the inn was all but empty, save for a drunk with a strange gauntlet and a stranger hat who had been there the entire time Grum had and hadn’t said a word beyond “whiskey” to the barkeep. The town was similarly quiet now there wasn’t a crowd of bounty hunters waiting for their mark. The bounty had been increased to 5000 Gold Pieces by the Empire, out of fear of the bounty being an assassin. So to play it safe, Grum was going to have to wait just a few more days. A few days later, while Grum sat at the bar, writing in his notebook, a burly man with a cutlass, likely a hunter, entered the inn, just as the drunk asked Grum in a slightly bemused manner. “Ain’t that tourney just about over by now? It certainly will have been cancelled by now with the assassin in the capital. You been here eight days, you’ll be wanting to head home south by now." The man eyed Grum over, before taking a step towards him. Grum just sat in stunned silence, of all the times for this drunk to open his mouth, why now? The man put his hand to his sword and moved closer still. Grum’s brain ticked away, trying to think of some excuse, any excuse that fitted his story as to why he hadn’t moved back towards the capital yet. “Aww, you’re just nervous you’ll get lost ain’t ya? Why I bet you arrived days early just in case” said the drunk, slurring his words and smiling knowingly at the Grum and the hunter. It wasn’t great but it was better than no excuse and getting caught, “Yeah, I don’t the way friend. I was hoping someone could help me, but everyone up and left before I got the chance”. The hunter relaxed his grip on his sword and sat down at the bar next to Grum. Still not ideal for him, but far better than the beheading he just avoided. The drunk, leant forward onto his table to the left of Grum, revealing his whole left arm was armoured, “Now, luckily for you partner. I am a guide of sorts, I can take you to the capital or home, lickity split. Just pick me some poison, pay my tab n’ we can be on our way”. Not wanting to stay near a hunter who was somewhat suspicious of him, and knowing that having someone to backup his story in the capital would be helpful Grum agreed. Paying off the drunk’s tab with the little coin he had left. The rest of the journey to the capital was uneventful and a lot quicker than Grum thought it would be, taking just two days. They spoke a little on the way, Grum learnt that the drunks name was Mitchson, and Grum claimed his name was “Sir Mikael of South Empire City”, they spoke about all sorts, including the ‘tourney’ and the deteriorating tour guide industry. Grum had grown quite fond of Mitchson and his naivety of Grum being an lowborn orphan, let alone a lord of ‘South Empire City’. Just as they reached the outer reaches of the Capital, Grum decided it would probably be for the best if Mitchson didn’t join him in the capital, he had a knack for causing trouble around bounty hunters. Just as he turned to say goodbye, Grum had a metallic fist to the face, getting knocked unconscious by his tour guide. Current History Appearance Greasy Wizard. Personality Relationships Orphans of Fate Mickey Kreimhild Nigel Derosa Category:Orphan of Fate